Queen’s Park 0 Ross County 1 – Spiders slip back to bottom

A narrow defeat against Ross County in the William Hill Championship left Queen’s Park tenth after a cold wintery night game at The City Stadium.

Uche Ikpeazhu had the decisive say after coming off the bench for the Staggies and the sub struck late in the game for the visitors’ win.

With the teams occupying ninth and tenth in the table, separated by two points, it was tight.

After a quarter of an hour Henry Fieldson sent a swinging cross into the box, but Callum Smith was unlucky with his attempt to chest it down.  Moments later, a slick pass down the touchline from Aidan Connolly started a brilliant bit of play. At the end of it, Matty Shiels attempted to chip the ball over Carson but it went just wide of goal. Smith had a shot of his own just after, but again it went just wide of goal. 

Ross County attempted to break on the counter attack, but after a scramble in the box and a shot off the post, Queen’s defended well and the ball was cleared for a corner. Right back up the other end and it was Smith again,  almost one on one with the goalkeeper, but he was unlucky with his end product. 

The game was really coming to life as  the half-hour mark approached with Queen’s the better side.

As the half went on, it was very end to end, with no team able to take advantage of their chances. Ross County sent a ball across into the box, but Pitan sent his shot well over the bar. 

Right before the whistle, Queen’s worked the ball into the box brilliantly and Seb Drozd fired a shot towards the bottom corner, but Carson managed to just get a hand to it. Connolly managed to get the follow up, but the linesman flagged for offside. 

The second half becme scrappy, with much at stake for both sides. 

The first real chance of the half for Queens came after a long ball into the box, Shiels managed to get a shot away but it took a deflection, Smith followed up but his shot was blocked for a corner. 

Sean Crighton threw Nikolay Todorov into the fray for his debut with The Spiders looking for the opener, but it wouldn’t come for the big Bulgarian.

Instead it was another frontman, signed on deadline day who had the decisive say. With just over 10 minutes to go, County broke the deadlock through a cross into Ikpeazu who headed it into the bottom corner. 

Five minutes to go and Queen’s were still pushing for an equaliser, but though they manage to get the ball into dangerous areas but the home side were unable to hit the target. 

Ricki Lamie pulled up late on with a groin problem, but County seemed content to hold onto their lead than add to it and the game ended 1-0 to the visitors after a hard fought 90 minutes from Queen’s, who were just not clinical enough on the night. 

Queen’s Park: Ferrie, Fieldson (Todorov 62′), Murray, Longridge, MacGregor (Waugh 52′), Connolly (McDonnell 62′), Pignatiello, Shiels, Smith (MacKenzie 80′), Drozd (McLeish 80′), Lamie.

by Leah Johnston, Glasgow Clyde College